Gary Parsons breaks world mark for longest run

28 January 2000
A 50-year-old Australian builder set a world record for the longest continuous run Tuesday when he wrapped up a 274-day trek around the country, clocking up 19,030 kilometers (11,799 miles). Gary Parsons started running April 25 and on Dec. 16 broke the previous world record of 17,071 km (10,584 miles) set by American Robert Sweetgall in 1983.

Parsons limped into Brisbane with a badly damaged ankle after running a minimum of 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day for more than nine months. "My left ankle is just bone on bone at the moment, completely worn out, but it got me through the world record," Parsons told Reuters. "It was my goal to run further than anyone in the history of running. I guess it is just a bit of Aussie spirit, like the old explorers who went into the beyond and went that bit further."

Parsons averaged 72.4 kilometers (44.9 miles) a day until he broke the record and wore out a dozen pairs of running shoes during the marathon run.

"I had 12 pairs of rotating shoes which I had re-soled with the toughest leather about 40 times," he said.